riding.... Trumpie!

[quietann]

Minnie still doesn't have her shoe back on, and of course because she's, well, herself, she's been galloping around the paddock anyway, so her unshod hoof's not in great shape. The farrier should be out to see her sometime this week. Her hooves are her weak point, really. They are shallow and sort of splayed, yet J says they are not bad for thoroughbred hooves, which is just scary.

J has a sore knee, so she took today off from riding, but Trumpie needed exercise, so... I got to ride him! We had a real workout. Trump freaks out with nervous riders, so maybe I am not so nervous a rider as I think I am. We worked on gait transitions, collection, etc. If you could picture a horse that's really a La-Z-Boy easy chair, that's Trump. He's very comfy, and, well, lazy. But when he gets himself all pulled together, OMG he's nice to ride!

At the end, J set up a few trotting poles, and then turned the middle one into a little crossrail jump, and then a slightly bigger crossrail jump, and then she just put up one of the rails straight across, about 2'3" high. And we did all of it, and well enough, including the straight rail! That was *fun*. (BTW a crossrail is an "X" shape, lowest in the middle. It's easy because there's an obvious place to aim the horse.

We then took off for lunch, where we discussed the horse event where J will be showing Trumpie on Friday, and where I will be his groom. This is at her daughter's camp in Vermont and we are really hoping for a stall so we can go up Thursday afternoon rather than setting out at 4:30 a.m. on Friday. After that, we went to Dover Saddlery so J could get a show coat that actually fits her big strong shoulders. And then I came home.

Comments

[kayre]

Drive-by comment, hope you don't mind.... Tbreds do tend to weak hooves, but obviously not terrible or they wouldn't stand up to racing, and repeated shoeing for racing. Using a hoof treatment frequently during dry periods can help quite a lot.

Sounds like a fun ride!

[quietann.livejournal.com]

The ride was great! Trumpie is such a nice horse to ride, and his laziness isn't "sourness" but just his personality. He does respond well, though.

Minnie is old, and unfortunately the farrier J currently uses just doesn't seem to know how to make her shoes "stick." The old farrier did, but he was flaky about appointments. Sigh...

[goddessfarmer.livejournal.com]

Minnie's hooves are very typical of Tbreds, flat with a tendency to chip. She grows decent foot when the shoes stay on, which they don't very well because she likes to tear around her paddock and overreach with her hind feet. Here on the seacoast NH we are much more prone to thrush conditions than dryness so it's hard to balance the chipping against the softness.

[kayre]

Got it-- most of my horse experience has been in Michigan, with sandy soil that dries hooves right out.

[unclebooboo.livejournal.com]

Good for you. For me jumping got terrifying as soon as we got up to 18 inches! That must have been a great confidence builder.

Also, have fun at the event. There should be plenty of opportunities to observe some well trained horses and riders.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

The best thing about jumping yesterday is that I was not scared! Trumpie's been known to stop at a jump occasionally, and the first little jumps he did this funny thing where he'd be going quite fast as we approached, and then just sort of lose steam and slowly step over the jump (if it was tiny) or barely jump it (if it was big.) But he was taking care of me and didn't stop. Once it was a real jump, he stopped being lazy and just went right over it without slowing down.

Also, doing the little tiny jumps on Hans the Haflinger the day before really helped.

I had a brief period of being scared of jumping when I'd been riding for about 2 years, and had a bad accident with a green pony, who ran out just in front of a jump and scraped me off. The back of my leg got ripped open by a screw on the jump standard, not deeply enough to need stitches, but I had the most awful bruises for a long time, and still have a faint scar. After that I would not jump or canter for several months. My instructor started using a burr on the side of the bit that was the pony's run-out favorite, and he got over running out! He retained a certain amount of brattiness, but later on she sold him for good money as a show pony.

At my best, I could get around a course of 3 foot jumps competently -- not prettily, but competently.

The event is held as part of the horse show on the last day of camp at the camp where J's 13 year old daughter goes every summer. They open it up to outsiders to help cover the cost of hiring the judges, and have Elementary, Beginner Novice and Novice level eventing. It's a one-day event, so a bit harder on the horses and riders. J's daughter has had Trumpie up at camp with her for a couple of summers, and shown him there, but this year they wanted to put her on a more advanced horse.

J has done an amazing job of getting Trumpie into shape for this event over just the past few months. She and her daughter won't be competing against each other, since they are obviously in different age groups and most likely in different levels. This is probably a good thing!